Since becoming Catholic, I’ve heard that people say that one does not choose her Saint, her Saint chooses her. Looking back over my life, I have seen how St. Francis pursued me, gently beckoning me to become a part of the Church that Jesus asked him to rebuild. My first introduction to St. Francis was Read More…
Author: Jessi
A Tribute to Autumn
It’s been over a year since we had to make the difficult decision to send our little “kitty angel”, Autumn, to heaven. As I reflected on the upcoming one-year anniversary of her death, I realized that the most important lesson that I learned from Autumn was being present to people in their pain. Little did Read More…
Learning to Listen to Your Eternal Trainer
As I learn to truly listen to the voice of God, I am reminded about how much Scheyer’s experience going through Therapy Dog Training can teach me about learning to follow the commands of God, our eternal Trainer. One of my proudest moments as a pet owner was when Scheyer passed Therapy Dog Training and Read More…
Thanking God for His “No’s”
Scheyer eating a healthy carrot – something that he is supposed to eat! I’ve neglected my blog for the past few months, but I think I have a decent excuse – I was busy preparing for my wedding and then moving my husband into our home. It is only fitting, therefore, that my first post-wedding Read More…
A Glimpse of God’s Delight
If you are a pet lover, you’ve probably caught yourself just staring at your pet, delighting in their little quirks, cute habits and silly things that they do. Little did I realize that the act of delighting in our pets can give us a glimpse of how God the Father views his children. A Read More…
Eager to Forgive
My beautiful Scheyer pup gives me a wonderful illustration into the heart of God – always ready to forgive and patiently waiting for us to open the door to His love. The week of Thanksgiving my soon to be brother-in-law and sister-in-law came to visit my fiancé and I. On Thanksgiving day we had a Read More…
Trusting God With the Details
Out of any pet I’ve owned, my seventeen and half year old cat Autumn is by far the most calm and easy going. Autumn is teaching me to let go of control and trust God to take care of the details. I received Autumn as a Christmas present in 2003. My parents purposely picked out Read More…
I Understand Your Fear
Reflecting upon my reaction to Scheyer when he is afraid helped me to understand how God sees me when I’m struggling with fear. When I was cooking last week, in my effort to over multi-task, I accidentally burnt some food, causing the smoke alarms to go off. I immediately ran over to the nearest smoke Read More…
God Kisses
July 17, 2017 was the two-year anniversary of my father’s death. I was walking through the church parking lot when I heard a bird chirping. I looked towards the power lines where the sound came from and saw a bird looking down at me. I smiled knowingly – it was a God kiss. I first Read More…
Choose a Beautiful, Simple Love
Through my pets I realized the beauty of a love that is uncomplicated, unrestrained and life-giving. Now I won’t settle for anything less. Many mornings I wake up to Scheyer, Britney and Nolan cuddled up in my bed. Although I did not do it consciously, it recently dawned on me that for most of my Read More…